


If you dare

by Knocksthemoutwithbear



Category: The 39 Clues - Various Authors
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Romance, no beta we die like Cahills-unnecessairly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-23 08:50:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23142229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knocksthemoutwithbear/pseuds/Knocksthemoutwithbear
Summary: Ned has a crush on Hamilton. That's problematic, especially since the whole family seems to grab every occasion to put them together.Maybe Ned is going to need a chat with his adorable, not-meddling siblings.
Relationships: Ned Starling/Hamilton Holt
Kudos: 5





	1. Strange symptoms

**Author's Note:**

> First attempt at romance ever. Also, the triplets are supposed to be 27 today... Happy birthday Sinead, Ted and Ned ! Inspired by If you dare by Toybloïd.

_Attleboro, Massachussets_

Ned Starling was a prodigy who had invented most of his own treatment after the accident even though his headaches made it a nightmare to even think. During his stay at the hospital, he had aquired extensive knowledge of all sorts of pathologies and illnesses. And yet, he had no idea what was wrong with him right now.  
Sitting on his bed, he tried making a recap of his symptoms. His heartbeat would pick up at random moments, usually accompanied by a rise of body heat. His mind often drifted away these days, too, something that hadn't happened since the Franklin Institute explosion. He also experienced a weird sensation best decribed as having a number of butterflies fluttering inside his stomach.  
Ned sat up so suddenly his head spun a little. _Whoa. Steady there._ He sighed. How could he have failed to identify these rogue symptoms with his mind (and dreams) suddenly getting hogged by a certain boy ? Of course he was infatuated, silly boy. In uni at fifteen, but couldn't figure something that simple out ? Ned decided to blame it on his head injuries.  
Well, now that this was sorted out came another problem. He had come out to his parents and siblings ages ago, the problem wasn't here. The problem was that he, Ned _Starling_ , had fallen for Hamilton _Holt_. The idea in itself was ridiculous, even though an Ekat liking a Tomas was less terrible than it could have been in the past, the Holts were still the ones who had put the bomb in the Institute.  
Ned lay back on his bed. If it had only been up to him, well, he had already forgiven Hamilton and his family, but it wasn't only about him : his sister had been injured too, and his brother even more. _Well, he spent several weeks in captivity with Reagan and they seem to be fairly good friends. I guess he forgave them at least a little._  
But Sinead was another matter. Not only had she maybe not entirely forgiven the Holts, but Hamilton himself was rather weary of her since the Vesper thing... Ned sighed and passed a hand acoss his face. He did not know what to do, and his first reflex when this happened was to ask Ted. _Where's this moron gone again ?_ He raised from his bed and walked out into the corridor. Ted was most likely to be in the library, because it was more quiet.  
Indeed, Ted was there, curled up in an armchair with Flamsteed at his feet, perusing on of the books in Braille he had brought with him. He raised his head when Ned entered. "It's me. Um... listen, Ted, can I, uh... tell you something ?" Ted frowned. "What's the matter ?" He set down his book on the table with a loud _thonk_. Books in Braille were always much bigger and heavier than their ink-and-paper counterparts.  
Ned slipped into the armchair in front of Ted's. He took a deep breath and prepared to enounce what he had to say clearly and slowly. "IthinkIlikeHmltn", he blurted out. Well, so much for the clearly and slowly part.  
"You think you like what ?" Only Ted could have heard so much from this blur of sounds. "Or who ?" Ned cleared his throat. "Hamilton. Hamilton Holt. I like him... in a romantic way."  
Ted sat stunned for a few seconds, his eyebrows almost up to his hairline. Suddenly, he made a weird gurgling noise and his shoulders shook. He was laughing at him ! As vexing as it was, Ned was relieved. Ted hadn't laughed much since his return from the Vespers'cells. "What's so funny about it ?  
-I'm sorry, it's just that... I never thought I would hear you say the words "Hamilton Holt" and "romantic" in the same sentence.  
-Oh, ha ha ha. But you're right, I can't believe it either." Ned bit the inside of his cheek. "He could be chosen to represent the prototype of the Straight Man™. I don't have a sliver of a chance".  
Ted smiled. "You can always be surprised. You can't get anything if you don't try, I'm sure he'll be nice to you whatever happens. Does Sinead know ?" he asked. "Nah. I'll do this right now."  
Sinead was in the kitchen, one hand in the cookie jar and the other one jotting down ideas on a paper. Seeing her like that, no one could have guessed her to have betrayed all her friends to work with a dangerous society... but Ned could see the bags under her eyes, the paleness of her face, caused by remorse and regret. She truly regretted her mistake, and the other Cahills were starting to accept it, some more slowly than others. Ted himself had taken the news rather badly, Natalie's death at the hand of the Vespers sticking across his throat.  
Shaking away his thoughts, Ned entered the kitchen. Sinead looked up. "Is everything all right ?  
-Yeah, I, uh, I would just need some advice." Sinead looked at him expectantly. "Because I think I have a thing for Hamilton." His sister goggled at him. "You are asking me for dating advice ? May I remind you that's not really my area of expertise... Have you considered-  
-Sinead ? Ned ?" Cara Pierce was standing in the doorway. "Ian wants everyone in the dining room in five seconds."  
Ned rolled his eyes. Ian certainly took his new role as leader of the Cahills very seriously. He followed Cara and Sinead to the huge dining room of the Attleboro mansion. The whole family (plus the Rosenblooms) was standing around Ian and the Holt twins. Ned stole a glance towards Hamilton. He really was quite attractive.  
Ian cleared his throat. "Good afternoon, Cahills," he said. "I have asked for your presence because Reagan and Madison here and I have agreed that a collective activity would somewhat liven our days in this house together.  
\- Translation, it would be fun to do something all together." Cara grinned when Ian shot her an irritated look. "This is what I said. Now, I have left it to the twins to decide what we should do, but they are open do suggestions. This is all, thank you for your attention."  
As they all walked in separate directions, Ned saw Sinead go talk to the twins for a moment. The two girls listened and nodded. _What is she doing ?_ Sinead came back to him, trying to hide a slight smirk. Ned narrowed his eyes at her, but she simply smiled suspiciously sweetly and headed back to the kitchen.  
Ned looked back at the twins, who had put their foreheads toghether and were plotting fast. Shrugging to himself, he walked out, thinking a trip to the computer room might be nice. He had been in mind to ask Cara for lessons. He was already very good at programming, but Cara was THE April May, after all. 

The following two days, nothing was heard of the project, but Ned saw the Holt twins busy themselves with plans, going in and out of the mansion, coming back with wheelbarrows of random stuff.  
At last, Ian called for another meeting in the dining room. The twins were standing on a chair each, holding a slip of paper. "You put something together for us to do, then ?" asked Nellie. The twins grinned. "Listen 'round, guys," said Madison. "Here's the plan. We're gonna run an obstacle race across the grounds. Everyone will have to follow the pads we placed on the trail.  
\- There will be climbing, crossing rope bridges, walking on a tightrope, ect. You'll be in teams, two by two." added Reagan.  
"That's all ?" asked Hamilton. "Seems rather simple.  
-Simple for you, dude, yo. We're not all Tomas." retorted Jonah. "Hammer's right," said Madison. "It would be too easy, so each pair is gonna be tied up to each other by the wrist. That good enough, Ham ?" Everyone stared at the twins as though they were mad. "Sounds cool," said Hamilton. "Do we choose our partners ?" Madison waved the slip of paper she was holding.  
"Kay, so, Nellie with Sammy" Nellie high-fived her boyfriend. "Cara with Amy" the girls smiled "Jake with Jonah" both raised their eyebrows "Sinead with Dan-sorry Sinead" Sinead and Dan looked equally shocked "Ted -and Flamsteed- with Atticus" Atticus smiled. He admired the older boy for his intellect. "Reagan with Fiske-yes Fiske, you're participating, I'm with Ian-better make sure we win, Kabra. Did I forget anyone ? Oh yeah, Ned with Hamilton. Sorry buddy."  
Ned was not quite the emotion he was feeling had a name, because it consisted mainly of his whole mind going "what".


	2. Screaming contest

The sun was shining brightly outside. All the teams were gathering up near the start line, tying their wrists together. "Hey" Ned's head whipped around so fast his vision blurred slightly. Ow. Hamilton was standing just behind him, quite a few inches taller than Ned. "Care to give me your wrist ?" Ned raised his arm. Hamilton placed his just next to it -Ned felt his skin prickle- and started wrapping them up them together. Ned tried to cast his eyes and his mind anywhere but on the fingers delicately wrapping their wrists.  
When Hamilton was finished, he dropped Ned's arm, and they stood side by side, hands almost touching. _Concentrate, Ned, concentrate._ Madison held a whistle up to her mouth and blew a shrill signal.  
All the teams started. Some like Amy and Cara were already jogging at a steady pace, while Ted and Atticus were walking fast. Ned started running a little, but Hamilton was pulling him forwards. "Tell me if you need me to slow down, it's not a problem." said the Tomas boy. "I'm okay for now," replied Ned.  
The path they were following went downhill from the mansion. Soon enough they saw plastic bars placed across the path, about ten inches from the ground. They had to jump over all of them. Ned's head protested with every jump, but he clenched his jaw and kept going on. After the jumps, the path lead to a batch of trees. A tightrope had been set between to trees. Hamilton and Ned waited for Jake and Jonah to have crossed to have their turn. Jake and Jonah were not that great : Jonah apparently had a terrible balance, and kept swinging dangerously. Ned heard Hamilton chuckle as the other pair finally stepped down with a sync'ed sigh of relief.  
"Go first, you have a better balance than me and I'm lighter," he told Hamilton. The boy nodded and hoisted himself up on the tightrope. "Whoa," he said. "That's not gonna be easy." He took Ned's hand to help him up. "Hold on to me, we're gonna take this slowly." Knowing full well he was blushing terribly, Ned grabbed Hamilton's shoulder with his free hand.  
As they carefully placed one foot after another, Ned racked his brain. _We haven't started an actual conversation yet. Come on, what can I say ? Nothing too stupid._ His mind thus occupied, he didn't notice the end of the tightrope, swayed alarmingly and ended up falling right into Hamilton's arms. "Steady there, Ned," laughed Hamilton, putting him back on his feet. _Grrreat._ He had heard the two waiting teams' snorts of laughter. He just loved getting embarassed in front of everyone, Hamilton included. Well, at least neither Ted nor Sinead had been here. Stupid, meddling Sinead. He was sure this whole thing was her idea, that was what she was whispering to the Holts the other day... stupid, meddling Sinead. He would have to remember to thank her for that.  
There were no more teams in sight, Jake and Jonah now being far along. Ned was running next to Hamilton, truing to keep his head from spinning to much... he gritted his teeth. The world was getting rather blurry. They crossed a rope bridge, but as they climbed down, Ned let out a yell, cluthching his forehead. "Ned !" Hamilton kneeled next to him, making him sit down. "Breathe, Ned, it's okay..." Ned closed his eyes and concentrated on his surroundings. He felt the ground, the tree against which he was seated, not spinnig. No, he was not spinning.  
After a moment, Ned's thoughts finally cleared. He looked up to see Hamilton's anxious face. "Do you need me to get Sinead ? To get back at the house ?  
-No, I'm fine, thanks." Hamilton looked shaken. "You sure ?" Ned nodded slowly. Hamilton helped him up to his feet. He sighed and looked to the ground.  
"I'm sorry" he mumbled. "It's my family's fault. We... shouldn't have done that, it's our fault." He looked so ashamed it made Ned want to look away. Instead, he lay a hand on Hamilton's arm. "Hey, I forgive you, I really do. It's the past now, I know you would never do it again." Hamilton looked up. "You forgive us even with- all your injuries ?  
-Yeah," said Ned, and he believed every word he said. "I forgive you." There was a pause, then Hamilton looked up. "Friends ?" he asked almost shyly. Ned felt his stomach do a triple salto. "Friends," he said confidently, taking the hand Hamilton had extended. "Well then, we've got a race to win," grinned Hamilton, and they were off again.  
They didn't exactly win, being fourth of eight teams, but Ned was happy all the same. Even though there were three Holts in race, the winners were Amy and Cara. "They've both had the serum, there must be some traces still in them," whined Jake, before Atticus elbowed him in the ribs. Ned snorted. Sinead looked like she had just been through a KGB interrogatory and a hurricane at the same time, and Dan was looking rather smug.

Over the next days, Ned noticed some change in his interactions with Hamilton. It was just a smile with the hello, a hi, a wave, but it made Ned's day every time. _I'm getting really ridiculous._ However, he also had to endure Sinead's understanding looks and Ted's slight smirks every time he talked to Hamilton.  
One fine afternoon, Ned was walking down to the lab when he heard Hamilton call him :"Ned ! Hey, Ned !" Hamilton was running up to him, grinning broadly. "What's up ?  
\- Oh, I was just wondering if you would be interseted in a little project we have," said Hamilton.  
"I suppose 'project' means prank," snorted Ned. "What are you planning ?" Hamilton stepped closer-Ned tried very hard not to panic. "Dan, Att, Reagan, Cara and me are launching a scream contest. The thing is, the participants don't know they're participating, otherwise their screams might sound fake." Ned snickered. "How are you going to get your victims to scream ?" he asked.  
"Well, a simple mic in their bedroom, and then a good old bucket of cold water while they're sleeping should do the trick. I'm doing Jonah, Reagan is doing Maddie, Att and Dan are attacking their respective siblings and Cara is attacking Sinead. So... you up ?" Ned laughed. "Hell yeah. Teddie won't know what hit him."  
Hamilton led him to the attic, where all the other plotters were sitting on cardboard boxes. "Hi Ned !" Atticus greeted him. Ned smiled at him, and sank onto a box too. Dan pulled miniature microphones out of a bag and started giving one to each person present. "Right. So you put those in the room, then you ditch the water on their head and you run for your life. We'll worry about getting the mics back later," Dan sounded like an army general exposing his battle plan. "Att, Cara and I run out by the library, Jonah and Cara get to their own rooms through the kitchen and the stairs, and that leaves Ned and Ham to hide in the garden. All clear ?" Everyone nodded. Ned was rather impressed by Dan's plotting ability.  
He stood up, his miniature mic in his fist, and headed back to the lab. He even found the self-confidence to smile at Hamilton on the way out.  
That evening, he set his alarm clock to go off early and placed a large yellow bucket next to his bed. When the the alarm rang in the morning, Ned got dressed quickly, placed the mic in his pocket and took his bucket to the bathroom. He opened the tap and filled the bucket with cold water. _I'm so cruel._ He checked that he still had the mic and made his way to Ted's room. No one-appart from those who had... buisness to attend to, like him- was awake yet. He put the bucket down silently.  
Ned took his key and carefully unlocked and opened the door. He tiptoed into the bedroom, eyes on the bed. He could see his brother's freckled face sticking out of the sheets, deeply asleep. Ned placed the mic under a shelf and crept back out to get the bucket. Excitement tingling through his body, he crept up to Ted's bed carefully, holding his breath. He hovered at he head of the bed for a few seconds, Ted stil sleeping obliviously, then he tipped the whole contents of the yellow bucket on the pillow and scarpered. He flung the bucket away, laughing at the suprised howl coming from the bedroom.  
Remembering the plan, he sped up toward the garden, tearing through the pantry into the morning air. Hamilton was crouching near the old willow, waving him over. Ned hurried toward him, grinning. "How did it go ?" Hamilton gave him a thumbs up. "Perfect. You ?  
\- Same. I can't wait to hear the others." Ned sat down next to Hamilton. It felt oddly cosy, here in the cold morning, the sun slowing coming up. He looked up at Hamilton. The excitement of the prank made him feel elated. If he only dared... his heartbeat was going wild at the idea. _Come on, you're an Ekat, you're brave, Ned, you're daring._ He took a deep breath. "Ned ? You alright ?  
-Yeah. In fact..." _THIS IS ABSOLUTE MADNESS._ "There's, um, something I'd like to tell you about. I would like it if you didn't get... affronted or anything." Hamilton raised his eyebrows. "No offense, but you kinda sound like me when I came out to my parents."  
Ned stared. "When- when you came out ?" he asked feebly. Hamilton nodded. Ned drew himself up a little. "I don't think I sounded like that when I came out," he said almost proudly. "But the thing is, well, erm" his cheeks were burning. Hamilton smiled. "I think I understand," he said, gently placing his hand on Ned's cheek.  
Ned's heart was definetly going to explode soon, or so he thought, leaning in hesitatingly. Then, with a sudden burst of courage, he closed the gap between them.

Later that day, it was decided, in the attic of the Attleboro mansion, that Jonah Wizard was without doubt the best screamer in the whole family. Although this title was challenged that very morning by two irate redheads waiting firmly in front of Ned's bedroom door. Before they could have done more than open their mouth, however, Ned clapped them both on the shoulder. "Thanks a lot, you two. You just helped me get a boyfriend."


End file.
